Sileshi Sihine

I Want More

Say he’s "spoiled’ or "asking for too much," but Sileshi Sihine chooses to remember 2004 as "a year where I could have been better." "I should have broken the 10,000m world record," he says with seeming resentment. This, coming from someone who won Olympic 10,000m silver in Athens and joined the elite group of sub-12:50 (5,000m) and sub-26:40 (10,000m) men, might be considered outrageous, but the 22-year-old strongly disagrees. "It could have been better. I wanted Olympic gold."

Even as a youngster growing up in Sheno, a village northeast of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Sihine did not want to remain a farmer like his parents or try to work his way up the ladder of life through education. "When I was a child, I used to hear about Haile Gebrselassie," he says. "I wanted to be like him."

But as people from Sheno say, his path was "not as easy as walking on a road made of butter." "I wanted to stop school and take up running full time," Sihine recalls. "But [my parents] were adamant that I continue with school and study to go to university." Three years later, Sihine won them over and moved to Addis Ababa to pursue his running seriously. "I came with my friends, but they gave up and returned soon after," he sadly recalls. "I was lonely in a new city, and life was difficult then."

Unlike his friends, Sihine believed in himself and what he could achieve. His dedication was such that he trained to compete in a 12K Anti-AIDS run that took place days before his 12th grade matriculation exams. "It was difficult to focus on the exams because the training was so difficult," he remembers. He finished second in that race and still passed his exams.

Sihine’s career took various twists and turns before he took part in his first competition outside Ethiopia, in the Netherlands late in 2001. It was the first of many meetings that would shape the future of Ethiopian distance running as he finished second behind another young protégé, Kenenisa Bekele. "I had never seen him before. He beat me in a sprint finish, and we both improved the course record. It was a fierce race, but I was happy because it was my first time outside Ethiopia," Sihine recalls.

The next two years saw Sihine displace the likes of Gebrselassie and Gebreegziabher Gebremariam from atop Ethiopian distance-running ranks. The only runner he could not shake off was Bekele, who had become the best in the world. "He is a very good athlete, but I can get better," Sihine says of the rivalry.

This year, a knee injury curtailed some of Sihine’s plans, but he still earned a place on Ethiopia’s team for the World Championships. "I want to do well in Helsinki," he said before the race. He certainly did that, earning a silver medal in the 10,000m, behind, of course, Bekele. Knowing Sihine, he wants more.